Board Says Sunset Project Needs No Impact Report

The Los Angeles Environmental Quality Board has decided that the planned widening of Sunset Boulevard at nine intersections in Pacific Palisades and Brentwood does not require a cumulative environmental impact report.

A citizens’ group, the Committee for a Safe and Scenic Sunset, had asked the board, an advisory group, to recommend that the city look at the separate projects as a package to determine the total effect of the construction.

The committee plans to present its case again Monday to the city’s Board of Public Works, which will consider the first widening proposal, at Allenford Avenue, according to co-chairman Alexander M. Man. The committee is concerned that the projects will bring more traffic but will not significantly improve safety.

The city engineer’s office had said that a cumulative report would delay needed improvements on Sunset, where four people have died in traffic accidents during the past year. Councilman Marvin Braude, whose 11th District includes the area where widening is planned, and another civic group, the Pacific Palisades Community Council, has backed the city engineer’s office.

Committee members said they were disappointed that the board disagreed with their position, but heartened that the board suggested public hearings before individual environmental assessments of several proposed widenings are made. “Before, we were completely left out of the process,” said committee member Jeannette Lewis.